Welcome to GeoUnion, the graduate student body of the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. GeoUnion strives to supplement the overall graduate student experience at Rice and DEEPS. GeoUnion represents DEEPS in the overall Rice grad student community, acts as a liaison between students and faculty and organizes a number of intra- and inter-departmental events throughout the academic year.
Date | Event |
---|---|
August 19-23 | O-Week |
September 6-8 | Overnight Camping at San Marcos |
September 13 | Welcome Barbecue |
Cancelled because of Imelda | Pre-GSA talk |
October 12-15 | Field Trip to Big Bend |
October 25 | Halloween Kickball Tournament |
November 26 | Multicultural Thanksgiving! |
Dec 6 | Pre-AGU practice session |
TBA | Enlightenment |
Here’s a list of the resources that you would need to use frequently as graduate students at Rice. The websites of the Rice Graduate Student Association (GSA), Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS), Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) are platforms which graduate students can use to keep track of upcoming events, funding opportunities, changes in rules and regulations, etc.
Living in a vast city like Houston and exploring a new place can also be challenging, and so we have compiled a list of recommendations for housing and fun things to do in the Space City!
An Experimental Study of Trace Element Fluxes from Subducted Oceanic Crust
New publication in Journal of Petrology from Laura Carter’s Master’s research at the University of Bristol with Susanne Skora, Jon Blundy, Tim Elliott, and Cees-Jan De Hoog at the University of Edinburgh. Carter et al. 2015
ABSTRACT
We have determined experimentally the hydrous phase relations and trace element partitioning behaviour of ocean floor basalt protoliths at pressures and temperatures (3 GPa, 750–1000C) relevant to melting in subduction zones. To avoid potential complexities associated with trace element doping of starting materials we have used natural, pristine mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB from Kolbeinsey Ridge) and altered oceanic crust (AOC from Deep Sea Drilling Project leg 46, 20N Atlantic). Approximately 15 wt % water was added to starting materials to simulate fluid fluxing from dehydrating serpentinite underlying the oceanic crust. The vapour-saturated solidus is sensitive to basalt K2O content, decreasing from 825 +/- 25C in MORB (0.04 wt % K2O) to 750C in AOC (0.25 wt % K2O). Textural evidence indicates that near-solidus fluids are sub-critical in nature. The residual solid assemblage in both MORB and AOC experiments is dominated by garnet and clinopyroxene, with accessory kyanite, epidote, Fe–Ti oxide and rutile (plus quartz–coesite, phengite and apatite below the solidus). Trace element analyses of quenched silica-rich melts show a strong temperature dependence of key trace elements. In contrast to the trace elementdoped starting materials of previous studies, we do not observe residual allanite. Instead, abundant residual epidote provides the host for thorium and light rare earth elements (LREE), preventing LREE from being released (RLREE <3ppm at 750–900C). Elevated Ba/Th ratios, characteristic of many arc basalts, are found to be generated within a narrow temperature field above the breakdown temperature of phengite, but below exhaustion of epidote. Melts with Ba/Th >1500 and La/SmPUM (where PUM indicates primitive upper mantle) 1, most closely matching the geochemical signal of arc lavas worldwide, were generated from AOC at 800–850C.
Mw 8.3 September 16, 2015 Illapel, Chile Earthquake
On September 16, 2015, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurred offshore of Illapel, Chile along the interface between the subducting Nazca and overriding South America plates. Here I’ve used seismic data recorded in North America to image the source distribution of high-frequency energy radiated during this event using a method called back-projection. The initial 60 seconds of the rupture propagates near the Chilean coast and is the likely source of strong ground shaking in the region. In contrast, the second half of the rupture that propagates near the Peru-Chile trench likely generated the tsunami waves observed following this event.
Movie Caption: Warm colors represent high energy release at a given time (upper left corner). The star is the epicenter of the event and the white dots are aftershocks on Sept. 16 and 17. The white line is the coastline of Chile and the black line with white sawteeth is the Peru-Chile trench.
Geounion Monthly Dinner Sep 17
Date: Thursday September 17th
Time: 6pm
Venue: Mai’s Restaurant Vietnamese Cuisine
Website: http://maishouston.com/index.php
Reason: Meet and interact with your peers in a relaxed setting and you need to take a break from work to eat anyways!
What you need: $$ for food and drinks. It is self-funded
What to do: Sign up at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u6zp2YsjlZ4rUQLVYKFXb7QaBi87vvpBWTbqRw2o7PU/edit?usp=sharing
“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”
-James Beard.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Because of COVID-19, the field trip is being postponed to later (date TBD) this year. The seminar will continue via remote meetings through the end of the Spring 2020 semester.
As earth scientists we seek to understand the natural processes that have shaped the world around us through time. The most fundamental requirement to acquiring a deeper understanding of these mechanisms is through observation. EEPS has a strong heritage in field-based research that when combined with analytical excellence, produces skilled scientists with a broad view of Earth as a system. While Rice University is well placed to take advantage of a broad array of research resources, students in Houston do not always have immediate access to nearby geological sites that represent Earth as a system.
A generous gift from Mike Johnson enables EEPS students the opportunity to observe classic and fundamental geologic concepts in the field. Students are in charge of proposing, selecting and managing a field excursion that will benefit everyone in the department. A year-long seminar-based class run by the students prepares them to visit the locality they have selected. Papers are selected, presented and discussed, followed by activities that educate the students on how to run a field-based project. During the field excursion, elected stops will be led and presented by individual students. The knowledge gained before and during the field trip will cumulate into a multi-media field guide that will be made available to the department and public following the trips conclusion.
A significant benefit of a department-wide field excursion is the interaction of students with scientists from various disciplines. Many earth scientists only carry out field work with specialists in their own field. The real discoveries in modern earth science occur when the different disciplines are part of a collective discourse. This trip will have scientists with different backgrounds observe the same outcrops; fostering fruitful discussion that results in the generation of new and unique questions. In addition, this trip may inspire fellowship among EEPS graduate students that will hopefully create life-long collaborations and a cohesive department.
General route starting in Albuquerque, New Mexico
This year, EEPS elected to utilize Mike Johnson’s gift to lead graduate students on a 7 day field expedition to observe some of the most diverse and economically important geologic terrains in the United States.
In early June of 2020, EEPS will travel through New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, which have easily accessible exposures of metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous rocks. Starting from Albuquerque, New Mexico they will explore the Rio Grande Rift, the San Juan Volcanic field, and the well exposed Mezozoic stratigraphy on the Colorado Plateau. Observing these diverse geologic terrains will give EEPS graduate students a chance to see how their research interests dovetail with what they observe in nature and provide opportunities to create new ideas.
Pre-Trip planning seminars
Fall semester: The graduate student of the winning field trip proposal organizes a weekly reading group focusing on the regional geology of the four corners region and come up with potential stops.
Spring semester: The weekly reading group continues. Students pick the final outcrops that they would like to visit. Each student is assigned to be an expert on 1-3 stops. Before the field trip, each student will submit their description(s) of their stop for the field guide.